General Motors may build its own low-cost EV for India

Now that General Motors has abandoned its plan to build a low-cost electric vehicle for the Indian market with Reva, it may move forward with an internally developed vehicle. Mahindra and Mahindra recently purchased a majority stake in Reva and that triggered GM's change of plans.

GM India president Karl Slym revealed that the automaker would pursue its own electric car, one that is smaller than the Beat concept. The original car that was to be developed with Reva was to use lead-acid batteries and this will likely still be the case with the new vehicle. That will mean a driving of only about 40 or 50 miles, at best, but it will be much more affordable than cars like the Nissan Leaf or Ford Focus Electric. Slym also revealed that GM was looking at building cheaper conventional model below the Beat but it would probably not be a direct competitor to the Tata Nano.

[Source: BankBazaar]